Fire-door control



June 2, 1925.

F. W. PARSONS FIRE DOOR CONTROL Filed June 26, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M sW m P m 4 a E 5 Z A. a m m MM 3 a Guam,

June 2, l 925.

F. W. PARSONS FIRE DOOR CONTROL Filed June 26, 1922 I: I'laul'l 14!!!! aW "M June 2, 1925. 1,540,647

F. W. PARSONS YFIRE DOOR CONTROL Filed June 26. 1922. s Sheets-Sheet sPatented June 2, 1925.

mnnnnrox w. reasons, 01? CLEVELAND, orrro.

FIRE-noon CGNTROL.

Application filed June 26, 1922. Serial: No. miner.

T all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. PAR.- sons,a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county ofCuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain, new and usefulImprovements in Fire-Door Con trols, of which the following isaspecification.

This invention pertains to fire doors, the general object being toprovide sensitive latch and thermal control instrumentalities orappliances adapted to effect automatic closing of one or more doors onthe outbreak of a fire in a building or other place equipped with suchappliances. A further objectis to providev a tripping device inconnection with such appliances adapted to permit fire door to be openedand closed with out affecting the setting or automatic opera tionthereof.

Another object is to provide separate latch and thermal controlappliances for a pair of doors, these appliances being operativelyassociated and connected to effect conjoint closing of the doorswhenever either control; appliance is influenced actively. Still anotherobjectis to provide the tripping latch for each fire door with a controlcable having a multitude of fusible sections in its length to establishmany definite fire zones; in the building so that parting of thecablemayquickly take place in any one of them whether near or remote from,the door and cause immediate closure of the door before the firespreads.

In the annexed drawings, Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a buildingshowing my invention installed therein inoperative connection with apairof fire doors. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of a short portion of acontrol cable constructed according tomy invention and also showing asimple form of tripping device engaged with a detent arm on a section ofa fire door.

Fig. 3' is a horizontal section of a fire wall and a pair of my improvedco-acting tripping devices mounted upon opposite sides thereof.

Fig. 4; is a side. view and section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3, this viewalso: showing a corner section of a fire door and its detent arm.

Fig. 5v is an enlarged sectional view of a detail of the trippingdeviceand associated partson line- 5.5- of Fig; 3.

6 is a perspective: view of a pair of my improved tripping devices; andthe eseil latory connecting shaft used therewitm. bear-1 mg parts beingomitted. V

Fig: 7 is a vertical section on line-1*? of Fig. 3;, showing thetripping ,devices in up. posite sides of the fire wall and a portion ofthe fire doors and the. tracks for the doors. Fig'. 8. is aperspeotiveview of the. oscillatory shaft alone, and Figs; 9. and aresimilar views of the tripping catch or pawl; and-the lever for the pawl,respectively. Fig ll is a perspective form of the invention. a

In Fig. 1,. Ishow a building 2 in which separatefire doors 3 and 4c aresuspended from rollers riding on inclined tracks: 6 above door-ways orpassages, 7 in the Walls view of a modified; I

of the building. These doors are adapted to.

closeby gravity when pivoted catch or pawl. 9 on a pivoted trippinglever 10- is'raiised and: disengaged from. a vertical deten-t arm 11fixedon each door; A weight 12 adijnrstably mounted upon the longer'arm01f lever 10' tilts the lever and releases the catch when-. ever arelatively long thermal cable- 14 attached to one end of the levereither parts; or slackens at any point in its length. 'lhiscable issuspended in tree-run;- ning engagement with'sheaves or pulleys 15.mounted on the walls or ceilings of the. building and the idea is. toextend this cable for long' distances back and: forthfthrough. the workrooms, storage places, etc, in. the building and to either anchor thefar? end or extremity 1601i the cable or to suspend aheavy weight 17therefrom or to do both asshown in Fig. 1,. the object. being to keepthe cable taut and the tripping catch. on gaged under normal conditions.The. cablecomprises fusible sections or links F at in.- tervals of sixto ten feet throughout its length. to. effect parting of the cablev inthe event of an outbreak of fire in the immedi-= ate zone of any one ofthese fusiblesections.

As: shown: in Fig. 2 the. fusible sectionscomprise two, flat strips 19%and 20 of metal; having elongated openings 21 in their end portionswhich are adapted to be overlapped and united together by fusible solder22 applied within the openings and between the meeting faces of thestrips. Each plate or strip is also formed with a transverse slot 23 anda round oaening 24 centrally opposite this slot, whereby the wire cableend may be looped through the slot and passed around the end portion ofthe strip and thence through the loop 25 and finally or knot secures thecable firmly to the opposite ends of the fusible section F, butdetachably and so that take-up or allowance can be made conveniently atany one of the fusible sections in the whole cable. The degree offusibility of the solder may vary in the different fusible sections inthe same cable; that islthe solder in some of the fusible sections for aportion of the length ofthe cable where passing through one room in thebuilding may be of a lower or higher degree of fusibility than thefusible sections in another portion of the cable in another room of thebuilding, so that parting of the cable may occur atdifferent'tenioeratures in different areas or zones in the same buildingwhere different conditions exist. Thus in room a ofbuilding 2 thefusible sections F may comprise solder fusible at a low temperature, andin the work room Z) the solder in sections F may be fusible only athigher tempera tures. In either case when fusion and separation occursat any one of the sections F. the weights on the levers will trip bothcatches and release both fire doors 3 and 4. A stop member 26 limits thetilting move- I ment of the lever, and a set screw 27 extends throughthe catch 9 pivoted upon the upper side of the short arm of the lever 10to. permit a sensitive adjustment of the catch point or hook 28 with theengaging end of the detent arm ll on the door; In this way, it ispossible to check self-closing of the fire door and also permit the doorto be opened and closed by hand without disturbing the set position ofthe tripping lever. That is to say, the holding engagement of catch anddetent may be made so sensitive that a slight jar orniovement of thedoor may kick the catch 9 upward and permit'the door to be closed byhand without'disturbing the normal operating position of the main lever10. in opening the door the de'tent arm ll engages the beveled end ofthe catch and lifts it up until locking is" effected the pivoted catch 9being free to move upwardly without any change in position of themainleverlO.

In some installations a fire door is desired or requiredupon oppositesides of a fire wall, and in Figs. 3 to 10, inclusive I show separatetripping devices and separate fusible cables on opposite sides 'of thefire Wall adapted-to control the closing of. a' pair of at right anglesthrough round aenmg 24. This he I double-acting lows: The main lever ismounted upon a pivot pin 27 between bosses 28' extending inwardly fromthe opposite sides of the separable halves ofa divided casing 29 havingan opening 30 in its bottom through which catch or pawl 9 is adapted toproject to permit engagement with the hardened inset hook of .detent ar11 on the'door, see

in. l. The short a1. 1 t

, 1. die lever is tapered and faced on opposite sides by thin plates 31which provide vertical guides for the pivot end of catch or pawl 9,andthe pivot pin 32 on the catch passes through these side plates aboveand relatively near the pivot pin 27 of lever 10. The set screw 27carried by the catch orpawl bears upon the top of the extremity of theshort arm of the lever, and a cross pin extends horizontally through thesame extremity of the lever, see Figs. and 6. Thus, when weight 17 ispermitted to tilt the lever the catch 9 and the cross pin 33 risetogether. This pin is utilized to oscillate a cross shaft rotatablymounted within bearin and a sleeve 35 embedded within wall i-V, saidshaft having a short linger 36 at each end where projected into thecasing and each finger resting norinally upon the pin of the lever nextor adj acent thereto. see 3. The rounded extremity of each finger 36 isalso located immeaiately eneath lateral lug on the catch 9 ofacorresponding lever so that the tilting action of one le er'will causeuplift of both catches 9--9 on opposite sides of the wall without movingor affecting the set position of the other lever. To explain further,say one cable parts at any point in its length and permits the leverwith which it is connected to be tilted by the weight on the long arm ofthe lever. is this occurs the main lever and cable the opposite side ofwall TV are unali ected, but l'lQVOltilQlESS both catchesor pawls' 9-9on opposite s des of the wall will he'lifted to release both doorssimultaneously because the cross pin on the tilting lever raises theadjacent finger and rotates the cross shaft and the other linger ther onin lik degree and therethrough the other catch in like degree. Thisdouble releasing'action of the two' doors is therefore effected 11'either cable parts or gets slack.

In Fig.

11 I show a modified form of tripper arrangement controlled by twofusible cables 38 and 44-, respectively. In this form of the invention amain tilting lever 10' having a pivoted door check or catch 9 is upheldby a thermal control cable 38. The catch has a lateral lug 39- which isadapted to be engaged and lifted by a finger 4t0- fixed on anoscillating shaft l-1. This shaft is intended to be supported inbearings and to extend through a wall in substantially the same way asillustrated in Figs. 3 and 7, and to be provided with a weightedauxiliary lever 42 at the opposite side of the wall. Lever 42 is fixedto the cross shaft and a second thermal control cable 44 is connectedwith the free end thereof to uphold it and prevent the cross shaft fromturning. Assuming cable 44 to be parted at some place in its length theweighted lever 42 would drop and finger 40 would move upwardly and liftthe catch 9. On the other hand, if the main lever 10 were to dropbecause of the parting of its thermal control cable 38 the catch 9 wouldbe raised by the tilting of lever 10 and the door would be released toclose by gravity. In Fig. l I show two doors and two independent tiltinglevers and catches controlled by a single thermal cable extendingthrough two rooms in a building and passing through a division wall d.An edge view of one door and its controlling device is shown adjacentwall (Z, and the other door and device is a side view. The single cablein this instance has depending loop portions 45 and L6 in which wheeledhanger connections 47 are provided for the respective tilting levers. Ifthe cable parts in either room the weighted levers will both drop andrelease the two doors concurrently.

As shown the invention is applied to a sliding door, but it is alsoapplicable to swinging doors, trap doors, windows, and other fireclosures or safety devices.

What I claim, is:

1. A self-closing fire-door, detent means for said door, separatepivoted levers and separate fusible cables connected to said levers,each cable being under tension to hold the separate levers and saiddetent means in detaining position for said door,

and either lever being adapted to release said detent means.

2. A self-closing fire-door, a pivoted lever having a pivoted hookmounted upon one end thereof adapted to hold the door open, and athermal control cable connected with the opposite end of said lever andsuspended under tension having a series of fusible places at spacedintervals therein.

3. A self-closing fire-door, a Weighted lever having a pivoted hook atone end thereof adapted to hold the door openand a set screw to adjustsaid hook, and a fusible control cable connected with said lever.

a. A self-closing fire-door, a pivoted lever having a sensitive gravitytripping hook pivoted upon oneend thereof adapted to permit the door tobe closed and opened by hand and to hold the door open, and a fusiblecable connected with said lever adapted to effect automatic tripping ofsaid device and release of said door.

5. A self-closing fire-door having a detent member, a pivoted leverhaving a pivoted catch, a set screw mounted upon one of said partsadapted to adjust the working relations between said catch and detentmember, and a flexible fusible connection for said lever adapted to holdthe lever and catch in a predetermined working position.

6. A pair of self closing fire doors located upon opposite sides of awall, separate latch and thermal control appliances for each door,including means comprising a rock shaft between the latches to effectconjoint movement of both latches and closing of the doors whenevereither control appliance is influenced actively by fire or heat.

7. A pair of self-closing fire doors, a movable detent device for eachdoor, a fusible control element adapted to hold each device in detainingposition and means interposed between said devices adapted to actuateand release both of said devices upon the fusing of the control elementof either device.

8. A pair of self-closing fire doors, a

tripping detent for each door, a fusible cable connected under tensionwith each tripping detent, and an operative connection between saiddetents adapted to actuate both detents to release the doors when thetension of either cable is relaxed.

9. A pair of self-closing fire doors contiguously related, a trippingdetent for each door, a fusible connection for each detent adapted tohold them actively in position, and an oscillatory device adapted toproduc conjoint action of said detents when either fusible connectionbecomes inactive.

10..A pair of self-closing fire doors, a pivoted lever and movable catchfor each door, a fusible cable connected with said levers, and anoscillatory device dependent for movement upon said levers andengageable with said catches alternatively.

11. A controlling device for fire doors, comprising a pair of pivotedlevers, a pivoted catch upon each lever, an oscillatory shaft havingmeans engageable with said catches, and each of said levers having meansadapted to actuate said shaft. 7

12. A controlling device for a fire door, comprising a pair of pivotedlevers, a fusible connection for each lever, a catch carried upon one ofsaid levers, and means connected with the other lever adapted to actuatesaid catch independently of its carrying lever.

13.91 controlling device for a fire door, comprising a casing a level"pivoted Within said casing having a Weight at one end and a gravitycatch pivoted upon the other 5 end of said 1eve1',' and acable connectedWith the weighted end of said lever having numerous fusible sections inits length, in

combination with a gravity fire dooi' having adetent adapted to beengaged by said catch. 1

In testimony whereof I affix iny signature.

FREDERICK W ARSONS.

